Thanks to Barrett for making me think of putting this one on here. Read this one about five years ago, and enjoyed it immensely. It was the first book I had ever read on Orthodox spiritual life, and it was a major blessing to me. The faith of the peasant in the story to persevere and seek to learn what true prayer was reminded me of our connection with the great cloud of witnesses. Furthermore, I have learned much from the Jesus Prayer, and still use it frequently in times of stress or just to say a simple prayer. The Jesus Prayer has been brought into American consciousness by Franny and Zooey by Salinger, which I happened to read when I was already interested in the Jesus Prayer. Since then, I have listened to several talks by Metropolitan Kallistos Ware on the Jesus Prayer, and these have further encouraged me to keep praying it. (For those who don't know, the Jesus Prayer is some variant of, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.) It can often be used with breathing exercises as an excellent way to remind ourselves through prayer that we are God's and that He is in control of our lives.